I’m a bit disappointed that I had to put the word ‘salad’ in there because the ‘C’ alliteration was going so nicely…

That said, this is a delicious salad! Well, perhaps I should qualify that. It’s not for everyone. H and I made this fascinating twist on the typical chicken salad. It’s got all of the crunch and creaminess usually found in a chicken salad, but the creaminess is from plain yogurt and the very yellow colour is all curry powder. Yum!

The fact that this was a cold salad didn’t appeal to H; and the sister is rather picky about her curries- this one didn’t appeal. I really enjoyed it quite a bit- I love the textures, the crunch, the flavour combinations. I quite enjoyed it cold, but I love cold, crunchy, creamy chicken and tuna salads, so perhaps this will only appeal to those who share that joy.

Crunchy Curried Chicken Salad

Adapted from Curried Chicken Salad from Green Black Red

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (organic, hormone-free, all-natural, grass-fed), cleaned from fat
• 1 medium Red Delicious (or other red) crunchy apple, diced into large 1-inch chunks (skin on, rinsed thoroughly)
• 1/2 cup green grapes, halved
• 1/4 cup black grapes, halved
• 1/4 cup red grapes, halved
• 1 large celery stalk, diced coarsely
• 2 tablespoons mango chutney
• 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
• 1/2 heaping cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with a silpat mat. Brush the chicken with the olive oil on one side, and season with salt and pepper. Then flip on the other side and repeat. Place chicken on the silpat and set to bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked thoroughly and crisp on the outside.
3. Place the chicken aside to cool as you chop the grapes, apple, and celery. Place all vegetables in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add chicken, yogurt, chutney, curry powder, and remaining salt to veggie/fruit mixture. Toss thoroughly; serve immediately with hot, fresh naan (yum).

I brought he leftovers for lunch to work the next day and it keeps very nicely overnight in the fridge- in fact, the yellow and curry taste intensified. It may be a bit more watery at that point- the grapes and apples will sweat out some moisture- but the deliciousness remains. Please do note that people who don’t like cold curry salads won’t care for this one- but those who do should greatly enjoy it :).

One of my happiest childhood memories is of baking tarte aux pommes with my mother. I wouldn’t necessarily eat it- for many years I was much more a fan of la tarte a la noix de coco -  coconut tart. Mmmh. I’m smiling happily just thinking about it :) My mother is a terrific baker, but her tarts are fantastic. She has the crust-to-filling ratio down to a science, knows the exact thickness the crust should be for each area (top, bottom, angles, sides, corners)…

Recently when I was home, my mother suggested we make tarte aux pommes together. Naturally, I was ecstatic – we had spoken of it in the past few months but had never gotten around to it. After we made the tart together – I was watching with even more avid interest than before- she kindly wrote down the recipe for me (“From an old maïzena (a cornstarch brand, I can’t remember the name now) recipe, I think” she tells me). Herein I shall share this delicious tart recipe. The best part? It’s so incredibly simple, and so good.

A quick note: The pictures here are from my recreation of it a few days later (we had some leftover tart dough). I used the leftover dough to make the minis and made a new crust for the large tart. You’ll notice that the colour is much lighter and the texture seems more crumbly and frail- that would be of two major changes. I used soy butter in place of real butter- much to my mother’s dismay, the French feel strongly in needing real butter for pastry- and potato starch in favour of corn starch. Both were delicious, just different- it’s difficult to compare.

You’ll be surprised at how few ingredients are in this- the filling is so simple, but the baked applesauce is delicious, and the texture of the apple slices on top, divine. So good!

Traditional French Apple Tart

Adapted from my mother’s recipe, from a maïzena container, long ago

Ingredients (makes one large 9-inch tart):

• 130 grams unsalted butter, semi-chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used soy butter)
• 4 egg yolks (cage-free, brown, organic eggs)
• 14 soup spoons (my mother was very insistent on using this! “Americans never use the right spoon measurements”) granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic AP flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch (for a more crumbly consistency, try potato starch)
• 1/2 – 2/3 jar of unsweetened, all-natural applesauce (depending on your preference)
• 1-2 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored, sliced very thinly (my mother used Granny Smith; I used Pink Ladies)

Process:

1. Place butter (cubed) and sugar in a large mixing bowl using a pastry cutter (not sure what to call this… my mother kindly gave me one… it’s plastic, round-ish (with an inward area), and hand-held) to cut the butter into the sugar.
2. Once these are well mixed together, crack in the egg yolks and cut the yolks into the butter-sugar mixture using the same round baking tool. Pour in vanilla and mix until the whole mixture has a brownish colour.
3. Sift together the flour and corn or potato starch into a small bowl. Pour into the liquid mixture in 2-3 batches, mixing together efficiently (still with the round thing) but being careful to NOT overmix. The more you mix, the tougher the dough will get.
4. Once the dough is in a ball and has reached a good texture (a bit sticky, but not falling apart by any means) – you can add milk if the dough is too dry and a bit of flour if it is too sticky – set aside and butter your tart pan.
5. Preheat your oven to 360 degrees F.
6. Place the dough in the middle of the pan, and use the heel of your palm to press it up into the sides of the pan, making sure it’s evenly distributed onto the sides.
7. Spoon the applesauce into the tart pan until it is about 70-75% of the way full. Then layer on the apple slices in a flower or row pattern.
8. Bake the tart for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the apples are slightly crisped on the edges. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, then serve warm with cinnamon and vanilla ice cream; OR, allow to cool overnight and eat at room temperature (or chilled)- it’s delicious any way you have it!

Honestly, this is a terrific thing for snack, dessert, breakfast… try all of them! You can try other starches, other flours… you could probably make this one vegan, perhaps even gluten-free! I shall experiment more later. :)

PS if you’re confused about the other, odd-looking tarts… those are coconut. It’s just two egg yolks, 1/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of coconut, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I should have removed them from the oven a bit earlier, but… still good!

You may see this recipe and think it’s a clafoutis. I, too, would have thought this prior to my recent research. As it turns out, French becomes more loveable than ever when referencing food terms. I’ve often tried explaining to friends how wonderful it is that French is very specific- for example, the word ‘tartiner’ refers to the spreading of a fairly thick substance (oft used to describe butter, jam, preserves, pesto, tapenade, etc) onto a bread-like substance. English has no such word, sadly, but French wins yet again in the culinary specificity department with flaugnarde.

Clafoutis, apparently, refers ONLY to when this dessert is made with black cherries- and purists will argue that the cherries must have their pits in for it to be traditional. For any other fruit, it must be a flaugnarde. There’s always something to learn about food :)

I had some lovely large, ripe (yes, there is such a thing as a ripe apple, oddly enough) pink lady apples from my mother and some organic heavy cream I had gotten on sale. I decided on flaugnarde- well, clafoutis, before I knew that to be the incorrect term- and searched for a recipe. I found Ina’s, adapted it, and was very happy with the results. As I had leftover batter, I made a few different sizes and shapes, and each was different! My favourite, I think, was the large tart-shaped one, but each was interesting. The souffle dish ones suffered from overbeaten eggs in the batter, resulting in a souffle-like consistency on bottom and a more flan-like consistency on top. If nothing else, it was an interesting study in texture!

Apple Flaugnarde

Adapted from Ina Garten’s Pear Clafouti

Ingredients:

• 2 large Pink Lady apples
• 2 tsp 2x extra strength vailla extract
• 7 tablespoons organic AP flour
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature (cage-free!)
• 1 1/2 cups organic heavy cream (I used Horizon)
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F; butter dishes with room-temperature soy butter (I did two batches of batter- see below for ‘second attempt recipe’ and buttered 1 10-inch fluted tart pan, 2 souffle ramekins, and 1 4-inch rectangle ramekin); sprinkle 1 tablespoon (more or less) of the sugar around the sides of the dish(es)
2. Place the eggs and remaining sugar in a food processor (or, preferably, stand mixer) and beat together for 1-2 minutes until frothy and mouse-y on top and light in colour.
3. Add in the flour, cream, vanilla extract, and salt; mix together and set aside as you prepare the apples.
4. Peel, quarter, core, and slice the apples, having approximately 4-5 slices per apple fourth. Fan the slices lightly onto the dishes in whatever fashion you choose, so long as it’s aesthetically pleasing; then pour the batter on top and make sure the apples are well coated (it’s okay if they’re sticking out a bit- see the pictures below).
5. Bake your flaugnarde(s) until the top is golden brown and the custard is firm- this will take approximately 32-35 minutes for the large tart; 45-50 minutes for the deeper rectangular ramekin; 25-30 minutes for the souffle dishes. It all depends on the size!

For my second variant, I tried the following (the rectangular dish- which I really quite enjoyed- had this mix): 1/4 cup organic heavy cream; 2 large cage-free eggs; 4 heaping tablespoons organic AP flour; 2 large Pink Lady apples; 1.5 tablespoons 2x extra strength vanilla extract. The rest of the ingredients were the same. I also mixed this one far less- less overbeating and air meant a denser, thicker texture, which I prefered.

The texture reminded me a bit of the tarte au flan my father had at Sarafina’s on St. Maarten… gorgeous. Though, of course, theirs was larger and thicker. But this dessert is very simple, when made with the food processor, and very very very good. I’ll definitely be making this one again. I made the large tart and large ramekin to bring in to work for an intern event- bringing food makes for more attentive audiences, I’ve found- and they seemed to enjoy it… and the sister really liked it… so I’m counting it as a success! :)

They’re not too sweet, so beware, sweets lovers, this one’s a light-yet-cake-y muffin that’s incredibly healthy and yummy! They would have been sweeter- and tastier- with the raisins I had planned to put in… but forgot. Oops! That said, even without them, they’re a delicious snack to have in your bag, for breakfast, or at I’ve often used them, concert food!

Most muffin recipes use a ton of sour cream and butter, and I’ve found that to be downright silly. Why make an unhealthy muffin when it could be far healthier? I mixed and matched flours here to experiment with texture, but feel free to simplify by using all whole-wheat regular flour (not a mix of pastry and regular). You can also completely remove the sour cream in favour of applesauce only- I’ve done this many times before and the result is great. I was just curious to see if I could get a heartier muffin, since mine tend to be very light and fluffy. If you’re opting for a vegan and virtually fat-free muffin, replace the eggs with pumpkin puree (thanks, Sasha, for the tip!)- I’d suggest 1/4 cup per egg- and replace all the sour cream for applesauce. This recipe started as one from Emeril but I found it to not be quite healthy enough and am always changing things anyway (I have a few variations already up on fruippe: 1 & 2)

Whole Wheat Low-Fat Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients- makes approx. 12 large muffins and 8-10 mini muffins:

• 2 large apples (golden delicious or granny smith are best), peeled, cored, cut into about 3/4-inch chunks (sizes and shapes can vary)
• 1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup 100% whole wheat flour
• 1.5 slightly-heaping teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup low-fat sour cream (or applesauce)
• 3 large eggs (or 3/4 cup pumpkin puree)
• 3/4 cup all-natural applesauce
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup black sweet raisins or sultanas (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 370 degrees farenheit and butter a large muffin tin. Set cupcake liners into a mini muffin tin (or butter- your preference). Use soy butter for a healthier alternative!
2. Mix together dry ingredients (flour, salt, spices, baking powder and soda) in a small mixing bowl and set aside. You can sift this if you’d like to introduce more air into the mixture but the applesauce substitution will usually do that work for you!
3. Whisk together the eggs, sour cream (if you opted to use any), apple sauce, and vanilla in a second bowl until just combined. Then whisk in the sugar very lightly- again, less is more here (take a Charmin approach)
4. Add the dry mixture in 3 batches each time mixing in until just combined.
5. Then fold in the apples, raisins, and nuts, until fairly evenly distributed, but again being careful not to overmix.
6. Pour the batter into the tins and muffin cups and put into the oven.
7. The large muffins take about 20 minutes to bake; the small muffins take closer to 15 minutes.
8. Remove the muffins from the oven, let sit inside the tins for 5 minutes or until slightly cooled, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

 These guys are perfect for gifts, snacks, and more. They’re very simple to make, and you can make countless variations. The boyfriend loves when I substitute the apple for banana and add in almond and walnut chunks, and substitute almond extract for vanilla extract. You can switch around to a variety of fruit and nut combinations. A fun version for fall could be cranberry and pecan! Try out whatever you like best :)

Time for yet another try at the apple tarte! This time, I decided to go experimental (next time, I’m definitely trying out the recipe in my new English cookbook). This tarte takes an Italian influence with a rather heavy citrus taste (lemon juice, zest, and orange juice), but keeps traditional elements (apples, cinnamon, nutmeg) to make a crumbly confectionary pleasure once settled within a gooey almond oil-flavoured whole wheat crust. Here’s the step-by-step surgical procedures:

• The filling is quite simple: zest a lemon rather vigorously, then add in its juice (roll it first to release the juices); add a tablespoon of orange juice. Sprinkle in a 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 tablespoon cinnamon (I went, as per usual, a bit overboard on the cinnamon- so 1/3 – 1/2 tablespoon is much safer than the whole one I put in!), 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and 3/4 tablespoon honey. Sprinkle in between 1/3 – 1/2 cup large black raisins (or sultanas, if you prefer… we were out at the time). Very thinly slice apples (I used 1 large braeburn and 3 smaller granny smith) and add to the mix. Cook on medium until the mixture becomes soft and a bit creamy- there should be a slight bite of crisp left to the apples.
• Make a crust- I followed David’s french tarte dough recipe again for the basics but this time made some changes: I used 1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour and the “rounding” of the cup as white whole wheat flour. I also used all soy-butter natural spread, and put in 5 tablespoons of it instead of 6. I also added a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of almond extract.
• I cooked the crust for 6 minutes unfilled, then removed it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.
• Fill the crust with the apple filling, making sure to add it evenly and spread it so that the top is completely flat (or as flat as can be made)- then while that is sitting (and settling), thinly slice one more apple (or two, if needed) and arrange in the shape of a flower on top of the filled tarte.
• Brush the apple slices with a bit of melted soy-butter spread with a pastry brush, sprinkle on a tiny bit of sugar, and put back into the oven for 10 minutes (still on 410 degrees).
• Remove tarte from oven and brush on apricot jam/jelly evenly with a pastry brush. Put tarte back into oven at approximately 200 degrees for another 30-40 minutes (until crust edges are golden-brown and fully cooked (lift edges of tarte pan slightly to check- the filling will make this process take quite a long time)). It’s important to reduce the temperature so as to not char the apples on top.

This was an unnecessarily complicated way to do this, but I was experimenting with filling times based on different degrees of crust bakedness. To make this easier, you can fill the tarte when the crust is almost completely cooked (after being in the oven for 12-14 minutes) and either a) not add apple slices on top, or b) pre-cook them and then add them on top.

It was melting and coming apart last night when it was hot (the boyfriend took seconds despite the crumbliness) and had a number of distinct flavours. Some bites had a strong lemon flavour from the zest (I zested it roughly, so there are some large zest pieces in the filling) while others had a strong, biting almond taste from the crust. After a day of refrigeration, the flavours have melded together much more. It’s enjoyable either way, but makes an interesting study in the effects of time and cooling upon the flavours’ relationships… something worth looking into!

In any case, it’s a rather yummy tarte, and fun to make. Try it out with your own variants and see what works best for you! As Melissa on Food Network would say, the possibilities are endless! :)

Lastly, if you do follow this recipe as I did- using the soy-butter spread- this becomes a vegan-friendly dessert! No animal products or by-products. Cheers!

Backpost: The thought occured to me the other day, why do I always bake apples with other things? They’re either baked inside of something, or on top of something, but never on their own. Well, being in the mood to experiment a bit, I decided to try the following:

• cut apples thinly as if for a tarte
• sprinkle with some sugar and cinnamon
• bake until browned on top

I know, revolutionary, right? :) All right, so it’s hardly original, but it was my first attempt at this, and all things considered, it was fairly yummy. What else do you need?

Backpost: It’s perhaps, next to muffins, the thing I’ve made most often or most of over the years: the classic tarte aux pommes. The sad part is that despite the numerous attemps, I still haven’t quite gotten it- but the last attempt was certainly much closer!

Some things I’ve discovered with this attempt, and in general:

• if your crust is not too sweet (or generally just lacking flavour), the make-it-or-break it element of your tarte will be the glazing on top of the apples. I’ve found the most effective (and tasty) to be brushing on some organic apricot spread (Cascadian Farms) before and after baking- before, so that it will interact with the cinnamon sprinkled on top; after, to lock in moisture.
• This is an instance in which substituting butter for applesauce can work out rather nicely, depending on how you like your crust to be. I’ve also found whole wheat flour- but don’t use pastry flour, it will be too airy and light- to be a healthy substitute as well. If you’re wary of going too dark, King Arthur’s organic white whole wheat flour is a nice compromise.
• If you are going to use butter, substitute some for Earth Balance (unless you have an issue with soy). Since the butter is not quite as crucial as it would be in, say, cookies (I can say from experience, unfortunately), using the soy-based butter for a fair portion won’t disrupt your tarte (the issue usually is that if you need to cream in the butter, logically, a butter that is not cream-based won’t be too effective- but if your recipe doesn’t call for creaming, then let in the soy!)
• The thickness of your apple slices should be determined on how you like your tarte- although if you’re going to go traditional, be as thin as possible. I’ve found that I like arranging them as a flower with petals :) but I’ve seem diagonally across done very nicely, or even just straight rows (I tend to not make those quite so straight, so flowers are easier)
• Extra apples that you didn’t mean to cut, but did, or over-estimated your space? Stick them underneath inside! Who on Earth would complain about having too many apples in their tarte?

Backpost: For Thanksgiving, E and I threw a potluck dinner and boardgame night, and it was a great success and tons of fun. Food was plentiful, the UT game was on in the background, and great company was present. Amoung a number of things I prepared for the evening but sadly did not photograph was a customary addition to the table: tarte aux pommes. See the first post on this subject for more thoughts on this sweet dessert:

Backpost: I’ve been continually working to update the  muffin recipe that originated as one from Emeril but since has little in common. I’ve now substituted all butter for applesauce- and trust me, you can hardly tell (my next goal is to home-make all the applesauce so that these guys are 100% organic), and they are virtually organic, whole wheat, close to fat-free muffins. Yeah, you didn’t think it was possible, did you? Neither did I, and therein lies the beauty of it. But I’m now very close to perfecting these, and the wonderful thing about it is is that anythign can go in them! Though these are apple-cinnamon-raisin, I’ve also made banana-walnut-almond, and plan to make many more in a wide variety of flavours. I’m very surprised Austin has no commercially-available (to my knowledge- please correct me if you’ve found any!) whole wheat, organic, insanely low-fat muffins. I’d also like to try making a vegan variety, but the eggs have me stumped… and I can’t think of an egg substitute. But all things in due time! For now, these are a winner. I’ve brought them to work, parties, friends’ apartments… they get gobbled! How do your muffins fare?

Some notes:

• I tried cupcake liners on these and, actually, they weren’t at all helpful. Maybe for the tiny ones, if for no other reason than the fact that my mini muffin pan sticks very easily and thus it’s difficult to coax the muffins out, but if not, I’d actually just lightly grease the pan and put the batter right in!
• The more applesauce you subtitute for butter, the lighter and airier these get- but certainly not to a point of crumbliness, or of no longer being a good snack! You can substitute the butter out fully with confidence- particualrly if you’re adding fruit or other ingredients to the batter to give it some more texture and definition.
• I’ve found streusel toppings to often be the fattiest part of the muffin so… just forgo it! Your muffin will be more portable- and healthier- without it.
• When I made these with smaller apple chunks, no one could tell they were there. The apples will reduce in size during the cooking process, so don’t be alarmed if your apple chunks seem a bit on the, well, chunky side- they’ll become smaller as they bake and it will keep a nice delicious crunch to your muffin.
• Though cupcakes may be the “it” thing to bring to gatherings and parties now, I’d like to contend that a big box of home-made muffins would be equally yummy, and far less guilt-inducing!
• My friend Sasha has informed me that pumpkin puree makes for a good egg substitute. In my next iteration of these, I’ll make that substitution and post regarding the results.

Backpost: I’m sure you’re sick of reading about apples by now. The issue with my backposting these out of order is that, yikes, I’m going backward with the tartes- the best of them was definitely take 1, the most recent. This, take 3, was my first attempt with this particular oven and crust recipe. I actually was unable to fit it onto the cookie sheet- I was going for the galette look, but this crust was just too thick and breakable to fold over the edges- and ended up having to halve it due to space limitations. Thus, some learned lessons here:

• Measure the size of your pan or baking sheet prior to placing ingredients upon the crust. You can still make changes if it’s just crust- but once you start layering on, it becomes too late!
• Don’t add extra sugar on top of the tarte if you aren’t already familiar with it or are feeling daring. I know, Ina says to do it, many people do, but I had caramel runoff that stuck to the bottom of the crust and caused for more breakage- if you haven’t experience with this one, you may want to leave it out for your first try, and concentrate on baking time and other intricacies first.

Backpost: Filo cups are such a simple appetizer or dessert element. Any recipe I’ve found for making your own filo dough seems horrendously difficult and nightmarish, so a quick box of these can’t be beat. A fun summer snack to-go is to fill these with strudel filling, consisting of apple chunks, raisins (for more traditional, go black- but for a sweeter tooth, go golden). These bake for a mere 8 minutes and you’re set!

• To make a healthy strudel filling, my mother taught me to just put the apples and raisins straight in to a deep-set pan with some cinnamon. You can add a little vanilla and something to add moisture if your apples aren’t throwing about enough water (apple sauce, or a thick fruit nectar- mango, pear, or apricot work best). There’s really no need for butter- you get a nice creamy-like texture from cooking the apples thoroughly. The trick is to find that sweet spot between retaining a slight hint of crunchiness- otherwise you’ll end up with apple sauce (unless, of course, that was your desired result all along)
• These cups work for savoury dishes as well as they do sweet- I’ve found them to also be delicious as a sweet-and-salty appetizer with pear chunks, honey, dried apricot pieces, parmesan, and salt. Really, though, anything works!

Backpost: So my new thing is muffins… to the point where, all summer, my friends’ nickname for me was The Muffin Girl. The thing is, these little guys are so handy! You can wrap them, carry them in your purse for snacking on during movies, concerts, at work, on the road… what purpose do they NOT serve? Best yet, mine are very moist, and don’t crumb excessively, making them ever more convenient a snack. I rest my case.

I started out with a recipe from Emeril, and this was my first attempt and, thus, only lightly altered- I didn’t know the proportions well enough yet to be changing things, so my main substitution was half the butter for Earth Balance, half for applesauce, as well as using light sour cream rather than buttermilk. I also used white whole wheat flour in lieu of AP.

Apple Streusel-Topped Muffins

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s Apple-Nut Muffins with Streusel Topping

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur organic white whole wheat flour
• 2 large eggs, brown, organic, cage-free 
• 2 tablespoons melted earth balance soy butter
• 3 tablespoons organic unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup light (low-fat) sour cream  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup peeled, cored, and chopped sweet apples

Streusel:

• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons melted earth balance soy butter

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and butter a large-cup muffin tin (or some combination of large and small cups)
2. Place the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg) in a large mixing bowl.
3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, applesauce, and melted butter. Thenwhisk in the sugar. Add to the dry ingredients in two batches, and mix until just combined- be sure not to overmix! Then, fold in the apple chunks (I like quite large chunks – you may enjoy smaller). Fill the muffin cups until somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full.
4. Place the streusel ingredients in a small bowl together until crumbly (sugar, flour, cinnamon, soy butter), then sprinkle a spoonful of the crumbly goodness over each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and with crispy streusel, then allow 5 minutes cooling time on a wire rack before devouring.

They turned out a bit drier than my later attempts, but were yummy all the same. Yum!